Well guys, here's my sad story. I bought a Visiontek HD 4870 from a member here (great sales btw), about two months later the bloody thing started to artifact and crash in 3D. Well, after having RMA'd my Sapphire card earlier, I thought no problem, I'll just send it in.

Here started the problems, which just keep on coming. First I sent an email to visiontek support, and receive no response in a month. Then I look at their forums, where there's one helpful individual who checks up on peoples bogged RMA's. I registered and asked him what he thought.

Here's the killer on this one. I don't have a receipt for the card, and the seller can't get a new one because the store he bought it from says they won't give a new one, because the purchase is over one year old. So, I get told by the Visiontek forum mod, that unfortunately I can't get any support without a receipt.

This sucks balls, because I now thought I own an expensive paper weight. I decided to try once more with Visiontek support and email them again with the information. This time I receive a response asking for the same information + address. And here's the grand finale. After I reply, I got this message back:

"Unfortunately we can only ship to US or Canadian addresses. Please reply back if you wish to continue the RMA process with a US or Canadian address.

VisionTek RMA"

Nice eh?

So, what do you guys think I should do? Just forget it, or is someone willing to help me out here? For example, if VisionShit accept it, be able to receive the RMA and then send it on to me, I would of course pay the shipping?

I don't think you would get a lot if the person has to gamble but its just me, and you would have to price it really low imo to sell it

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That's what I was thinking too. I'm not sure I'll sell it if someone helps mw with RMA. But if someone is interested, I'll guarantee I'll buy the card back for the same price if the RMA is a no go. So no risk for the buyer.

We have created the service order number but we have not received the proof of purchase receipt. You may attach it in jpeg or pdf format directly to this e-mail. Depending on the Vendor/Retailer, purchase validation might take 24-48 hours as they check their records. Please be aware the Limited Lifetime Warranty is not transfarable and valid only for the original owner of the card.

Thanks,

VisionTek RMA

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Me:

Hello,

As I already brought up in my first email: " I have lost the receipt and DirectCanada won't give me a new one because the purchase is over 1 year old." So I cannot provide you with a proof of purchase receipt. I thought this was clear from the start?

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They:

Without proof of purchase we cannot process an RMA.

VisionTek Support

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So, in the end I got nothing out of them, and am the proud owner of an expensive paper weight or a very power hungry 2D card. At least I know never to buy Visiontek products again.

Sounds like your card is over heating.... you may need to take the cooler apart to get the fins on the heatsync cleaned out...then you will need to reapply the thermal paste and assemble ..by doing this you void the warranty...at this point does it really matter as they so far are not honoring the warranty due to warranty restrictions. about 30 screws and you'll be able to remove the inner heat sync with the fins(if thats even the problem)(I bet it is).GL

Thanks for the suggestion, but I've been running it with a custom cooling the whole time, so it's not overheating. I guess I'll have to try with lowered clocks at some point, but iirc it didn't help back when it started giving me trouble the first time.

You bought a used card and you modified it (custom cooling). Both of those void the warranty with visiontek. Maybe the card would have been fine with the original cooling and your custom cooling killed it.

You bought a used card and you modified it (custom cooling). Both of those void the warranty with visiontek. Maybe the card would have been fine with the original cooling and your custom cooling killed it.

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Yeah, I know they do. It does that with Sapphire too, I had one of those die on me too. But after replacing the original cooler it was accepted to RMA without any questions asked. My custom cooling cept the card at around (load) 60c core, 70c mem and 80c vrm, while the stock cooler is at 80+ core and mem, 100+ vrm. So maybe the custom cooling didn't kill it.

They would have accepted the RMA with a proof of purchase, and shipping it back through a nice TPU fellow in Canada. But without the proof, they won't do a thing.

first of all, most stuff I keep the box with the receipt inside so when it comes time to send parts back i just do that. But to tell you, Visiontek and XFX have the best warranties in the Market for AMD parts.

they may have changed policy, thats the one thing, any item i get, I keep receipt in case it breaks. I had a ATI first party product with 5 year warranty on it, well I gave them a Call because it was a miswrite on ATIs part, and stated the part was 3 years, they acknowledged my 5 year warranty on the part and actually processed my part, got new part and was on my way. Id suggest you try and call them, and be polite, otherwise if you are not you will not get the service you are asking for. The reason they are asking you for the receipt is to make sure you are the original purchaser of the part. Ive seen so many companies that do that, as warranties are usually not transferable unless otherwise specified. So the next time you get any computer part, keep the receipt. Also you may have to suck it up and take the loss on it. Just try to call them and see if anyone other than the Online person can help you out.

they may have changed policy, thats the one thing, any item i get, I keep receipt in case it breaks. I had a ATI first party product with 5 year warranty on it, well I gave them a Call because it was a miswrite on ATIs part, and stated the part was 3 years, they acknowledged my 5 year warranty on the part and actually processed my part, got new part and was on my way. Id suggest you try and call them, and be polite, otherwise if you are not you will not get the service you are asking for. The reason they are asking you for the receipt is to make sure you are the original purchaser of the part. Ive seen so many companies that do that, as warranties are usually not transferable unless otherwise specified. So the next time you get any computer part, keep the receipt. Also you may have to suck it up and take the loss on it. Just try to call them and see if anyone other than the Online person can help you out.

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It seems I may have to suck it up.

But what really bugs me, is that Visiontek don't seem to read anything that the email actually says. I started very politely and made it clear that I have no receipt. They continued the process, so I thought that okay, they'll ignore it and just process the RMA. Then in the end they start asking for the receipt again. I mean come on, just read the damn messages instead of just using standard answer forms. Where's the service in that.

And calling that side of the pond ain't that cheap that I'd call them just to wait in lines.

Usually if I can, I avoid E-tailers due to the failure rates of the parts they have. I suspect the storage practices they have are horrible, and not climate controlled (Components are supposed to be stored at certain temperatures). When a part breaks from a e-tailer, I don't jack around with them, I send it back to the manufacturer directly with a problem sheet that way I Know I am getting a known good part vs a part that came from the e-tailer that was from same shipment/batch and is Inop.

Usually if I can, I avoid E-tailers due to the failure rates of the parts they have. I suspect the storage practices they have are horrible, and not climate controlled (Components are supposed to be stored at certain temperatures). When a part breaks from a e-tailer, I don't jack around with them, I send it back to the manufacturer directly with a problem sheet that way I Know I am getting a known good part vs a part that came from the e-tailer that was from same shipment/batch and is Inop.

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Tigerdirect is the WORST for that. I buy from them because I go directly to their outlets and I STILL get a lot of failures. Newegg has always been good to me however.